Integrated circuits are made possible by processes which produce intricately patterned material layers on substrate surfaces. Producing patterned material on a substrate requires controlled methods for applying and removing material. For removal, chemical or physical etching may be performed for a variety of purposes including transferring a pattern in photoresist into underlying layers, thinning layers, or thinning lateral dimensions of features already present on the surface. Once a material has been etched or otherwise processed, the substrate or material layers are cleaned or prepared for further operations.
Cleaning processes may use many different agents for different processes. These processes can involve stripping materials, cleaning processed layers or patterns, removing particulates, or preparing substrates for a subsequent process. As device features continue to shrink in the nanometer range, pattern collapse due to properties of the cleaning fluids may become an issue. For example, water used as a cleaning agent may cause issues due to its high surface tension, which can cause substrate features to stress or deform. The smaller the device feature, the greater the impact water and other fluids may exhibit on the structure.
Thus, there is a need for improved systems and methods that can be used to produce high quality devices and structures. These and other needs are addressed by the present technology.